A trussing apparatus comprises a main portion coupled to opposing end portions. The main portion includes at least one receiving member and at least one support member. A curvature of the at least one receiving member permits various sizes, shapes, and cuts of meat to be disposed in the trussing apparatus. The at least one receiving member has at least one hook-like formation configured to cooperate with one or more restraining elements to secure at least one piece of meat in the trussing apparatus.

Disclosed is an air-drying device for processing of cured meat products, including an air-drying treatment mechanism; the air-drying treatment mechanism includes a first box body, a top wall of the first box body is provided with a blower; a plurality of air-drying components are rotatably connected in the first box body; each air-drying component includes a first cylinder, a side wall of the first cylinder is circumferentially provided with a plurality of openable and closable air inlet channels; a top of each first cylinder is detachably connected with a cover plate, and a bottom of each first cylinder is provided with a bearing plate, and outer side walls of each first cylinder and each bearing plate are circumferentially provided with a plurality of slide rails.

A process for dry aging meat uses an enclosed, atmosphere controlled room with forced circulation and ultra-violet lighting, containing an anti-microbial meat aging rack with a salt brick stack covering one wall. Humidity is controlled to maintain between approximately 60 and approximately 65%. Temperature is controlled to maintain between approximately 32 degrees Fahrenheit and approximately 33 degrees Fahrenheit. UV lighting, some of which produces ozone, controls odors and sanitary conditions for the dry aging process.

A low profile water bath co-extrusion process for sausage manufacturing is disclosed, along with machines for accomplishing this process. The process is an automated assembly line which begins with co-extruded food product, such as a sausage emulsion coated with collagen and finishes with cooked, boxed, packaged link sausage. The process includes the steps of co-extrusion, linking and cutting the co-extruded food product to individual links. Following these steps and prior to a liquid smoking step, the casing is prepared by steps which includes chemical treatment of the individual links in a water bath, while dehydrating the product in a salt solution, the water bath being a two-part process and following the water bath using a forced hot air drying step. Machines disclosed include a modification of prior art screw driven water bath and a novel roller/conveyor forced hot air drying assembly that subjects individual links of a co-extruded food product to a rolling motion while simultaneously being transported horizontally and being subject to forced hot air drying.

A refrigerator appliance includes a cabinet with a fresh food chamber, a freezer chamber, and an aging chamber each defined in the cabinet. The refrigerator appliance also includes an aging chamber door mounted to the cabinet and movable between a closed position and an open position. A method of operating the refrigerator appliance includes receiving a meat aging input from a user interface of the refrigerator appliance and moving a lock configured to retain the aging chamber door in the closed position to a locked position whereby the aging chamber door is retained in the closed position in response to the meat aging input. The method also includes activating a dedicated humidity control system in fluid communication with the aging chamber and fluidly isolated from the fresh food chamber and the freezer chamber for an aging time after moving the lock to the locked position.

The present invention relates to a closed processing system for treating elongated food products, comprising: a housing bounding a process space, a transport path for displacing the elongated food products through the process space, at least one airflow generator for generating an airflow in the process space, and at least one detector for detecting process conditions in the process space, wherein the detector includes at least one pressure sensor for detecting the relative airflow pressure in the process space compared to the ambient air pressure and wherein the system is arranged to control the process conditions by adjusting the at least one airflow generator based on the detected process conditions. The present invention further relates to a method for treating elongated food products.

A method of producing raw, boneless and rindless cured meats with a short maturation is described, comprising a phase of receiving the raw material in the fresh state on the production line, a dry salting phase, a vacuum packing phase of the salted product, a resting phase of the vacuum-packed product in a salting cell, a filling phase of the anatomical piece in natural or artificial casing, after eliminating the vacuum bag, a cold resting phase of the bagged and tied product, a drying phase, a phase of seasoning of the product, a phase of washing the product from seasoning molds, peeling it and putting it into vacuum bags, and an optional aging phase; a bagged product, bresaola, made with this method and its plant is also described.

The present invention relates to an air-drying plant for air drying cut-up food. The proposed plant consists of a conveyor (10) for cut-up food (1) defining a conveying surface (11), a plurality of blowing conduits (20) with blowing openings (21) channeling a treated airflow at a speed of treatment with a controlled temperature comprised between 4° C. and 60° C. and a controlled humidity; wherein the conveyor includes air treatment segments (12) with conveying surfaces (11) facing and adjacent to said blowing openings (21), said treated airflow being channeled against said conveying surface (11) in an upward or downward direction; and wherein the conveyor (10) also includes idle segments (13) intercalated between said air treatment segments (12), the conveying surface (11) of which is not facing the blowing openings (21), nor is it subjected to an airflow.

This invention relates to food processing and, in particular, blanching and dehydration of foods. Conventional blanching and dehydration requires use of steam and forced hot air. This invention is the first to effectively use infrared radiation energy to perform simultaneous blanching and dehydration of fruits and vegetables. Since this technology does not involve the addition of steam or water in the process of blanching, it has been named “infrared dry-blanching” (IDB) technology. IDB is intended to be a replacement for current steam, water and/or microwave blanching methods. It can be used to produce many kinds of value-added dried, refrigerated, frozen and dehydrofrozen foods such as fruit and vegetable products. In general, the advantages of IDB include (1) uniform heating which enhances energy efficiency and limits damage from over-heating, (2) capability of zone heating to address differential density, (3) ability to treat large or small lots with the same piece of equipment, (4) portability, since equipment can be built on wheels, and (5) a safe, non-toxic process with no harmful side-effects to humans or the environment.

A system to control the conditions of an aging room, also known as a conditioned space, for products in which independent feedback loops control the dry bulb temperature and the dew point while controlling the difference between the vapor pressure in the room and the vapor pressure of the products being dried, thereby controlling the amount of and rate of water or water vapor loss of the products and, therefore controlling its quality, the system also including target controls, a thermoelectric cooler and lighting controls.